Relationships Between Components Contributing to Quality Variation Among Tomato Lines1

Abstract

Flavor evaluation studies with ‘Campbell 146’ and ‘Campbell 1327’ indicated that 2-isobutylthiazole concn and solids/acid ratio are important to the flavor difference between these 2 cultivars. Fifty-five tomato lines from divergent sources were analyzed to study relationships among components contributing to quality variation. There were highly significant correlations among major components contributing to solids. As total solids increased, the proportion of reducing sugars, the predominant organic compounds, increased. Despite a highly significant negative correlation between pH and titratable acidity, there was a wide range in the [H + ]/titratable acidity ratio. The data indicate that differential buffering is primarily responsible for this variation and that phosphate content of the fruit is a prime factor in differential buffering. Citrate, but not malate, concn was correlated with titratable acidity.